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World Poetry Translation Project


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The Mystery Cat

by T.S. Eliot

Macavity's a Mystery Cat: he's called the Hidden Paw--
For he's the master criminal who can defy the Law.
He's the bafflement of Scotland Yard, the Flying Squad's despair:
For when they reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!

Macavity, Macavity, there's no on like Macavity,
He's broken every human law, he breaks the law of gravity.
His powers of levitation would make a fakir stare,
And when you reach the scene of crime--Macavity's not there!
You may seek him in the basement, you may look up in the air--
But I tell you once and once again, Macavity's not there!

Macavity's a ginger cat, he's very tall and thin;
You would know him if you saw him, for his eyes are sunken in.
His brow is deeply lined with thought, his head is highly doomed;
His coat is dusty from neglect, his whiskers are uncombed.
He sways his head from side to side, with movements like a snake;
And when you think he's half asleep, he's always wide awake.

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macavity,
For he's a fiend in feline shape, a monster of depravity.
You may meet him in a by-street, you may see him in the square--
But when a crime's discovered, then Macavity's not there!

He's outwardly respectable. (They say he cheats at cards.)
And his footprints are not found in any file of Scotland Yard's.
And when the larder's looted, or the jewel-case is rifled,
Or when the milk is missing, or another Peke's been stifled,
Or the greenhouse glass is broken, and the trellis past repair--
Ay, there's the wonder of the thing! Macavity's not there!

And when the Foreign Office finds a Treaty's gone astray,
Or the Admiralty lose some plans and drawings by the way,
There may be a scap of paper in the hall or on the stair--
But it's useless of investigate--Macavity's not there!
And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say:
"It must have been Macavity!"--but he's a mile away.
You'll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs,
Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums.

Macavity, Macavity, there's no one like Macacity,
There never was a Cat of such deceitfulness and suavity.
He always has an alibit, or one or two to spare:
And whatever time the deed took place--MACAVITY WASN'T THERE!
And they say that all the Cats whose wicked deeds are widely known
(I might mention Mungojerrie, I might mention Griddlebone)
Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time
Just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!


American Review | www.PaperLyon.com | McGill Live Radio | Publish
 

  Translations for this Poem
 English  Spanish  French  German
 Italian  Portuguese  Korean  Russian
 Chinese  Japanese    
 

  Poems by T.S. Eliot
  1. Ash Wednesday
  2. Aunt Helen
  3. A Cooking Egg
  4. Burbank With A Baedeker Bleistein With A
  5. Bustopher Jones The Cat About Town
  6. Four Quartets 1 Burnt Norton
  7. Four Quartets 2 East Coker
  8. Four Quartets 3 The Dry Salvages
  9. Four Quartets 4 Little Gidding
  10. Growltigers Last Stand
  11. Gus The Theatre Cat
  12. Journey Of The Magi
  13. La Figlia Che Piange The Weeping Girl
  14. Macavity The Mystery Cat
  15. Morning At The Window
  16. Mr Mistoffelees
  17. Mungojerrie And Rumpelteazer
  18. Old Deuteronomy
  19. Preludes
  20. Rhapsody On A Windy Night
  21. Skimbleshanks The Railway Cat
  22. Sweeney Among The Nightingales
  23. The Ad-Dressing Of Cats
  24. The Boston Evening Transcript
  25. The Hollow Men
  26. The Love Song Of J Alfred Prufrock
  27. The Naming Of Cats
  28. The Old Gumbie Cat
  29. The Rum Tum Tugger
  30. The Song Of The Jellicles
 
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPRSTVWY[ALL] 
  T.S. Eliot 
  Ted Hughes 
  Ted Kooser 
  Theodore Roethke 
  Thom Gunn 
  Thomas Carew 
  Thomas Flatman 
  Thomas Gray 
  Thomas Hardy 
  Thomas Otway 
  Thomas Warton 
  Tony Harrison 

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